


love me 'til my heart starts

by fireflyslove



Series: Dragonheart [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Canon-Typical Violence, Kidfic, M/M, No mpreg, dragon!Bucky, knight!steve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-10 12:38:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17426054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireflyslove/pseuds/fireflyslove
Summary: Steve, Bucky, and the adventures of their dragon egg.Wanda something something Pietro something something revolution something something armies.(Or, the inevitable dragon!Bucky/knight!Steve now-with-a-baby fic, with a side of continuing plot)(And probably some dragon smut)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Babies are part of my brand now, I guess??
> 
> A word of caution, this fic is going in a very anti-Tony Stark direction, although I'm not going to tag for it, I thought I'd warn people so they don't have a nasty surprise when that pops up.

The army had reached the ford, and discovered it much widened from what reports had led them to believe. They were stalled, as Wanda had wanted them to be, and it was from a nearby outcropping that their movements were observed by a dragon, a knight, and a revolutionary.

“You’re certain it’s safe for you to go down there?” Steve asked Wanda.

Wanda rolled her eyes. “For the last time, I’m sure. Besides, I can get away across the river if I absolutely must.” She looked down over the edge of the rock again, and then stepped off. If Steve hadn’t seen her do this a hundred times over the past months, he would’ve been shocked, but instead, she was buoyed up by a flash of red, and then she bounced across the forest to land amongst the head of the army. 

Steve and Bucky were far enough away that the wind carried only scraps of conversations, even to their enhanced ears, but what they could hear was surprisingly convivial. Suddenly, Wanda shot up out of the army, a rising beacon of red, and came rocketing back to the outcropping. A second being separated themself from the army, a fast moving blur that Steve couldn’t parse as an actual human. 

Wanda landed with a wide smile on her face.

“It’s good news then?” Steve asked. 

“The best,” Wanda said, and the blur materialized beside her, a wind buffeting Steve as the person came to a stop. “I’d like to introduce you to my brother, Pietro.”

The man standing next to Wanda was about her height, with wildly disarrayed hair.

“Hello!” he said with a wave. 

“You have a brother?” Bucky asked.

“It’s a long story,” Wanda said. “But yes, I do, and he’s brought this army to support our cause.”

“I have a lot of questions,” Steve said, “But I get the impression now isn’t the time?”

“No,” Wanda confirmed. “For now I have to get the army across the river, which will probably take the rest of the day, and there’s no sense in you two waiting around.”

“We’ll be back at dusk,” Bucky said, and unfurled his wings. Steve clambered up on his back and just as Bucky tipped off the edge of the rock, he heard Pietro mutter to Wanda, “Where’d you get a dragon?”

Bucky quickly gained altitude, turning away from the bunched body of the army back toward the mountains. The land here was sparsely populated, the soil too rocky to till even once the trees had been cleared, so the sight of a column of smoke rising in the distance caught his attention. 

He angled toward it, staying lower than he normally would, dodging the rocky thrusts of the closely packed mountains. As they drew closer, he felt Steve tense. Apparently the knight was also able to smell the distinct acrid tang of the smoke. This was no wood fire.

Many dragons, but not all, were able to breathe fire. Bucky was one of those who was not able to, but he could recognize the brimstone of dragonfire from a hundred leagues, if the wind was right. The sulfuric stench started to make his eyes water as they entered the valley where the smoke originated. 

There, lying in the smoldering wreckage of what had once been a forest lay the body of a dragon. She, as evidenced by the large horns that swept back from her head and her vast size, was surrounded by the much smaller bodies of what looked like a hunting party. The humans in their metal shells were almost unrecognizable as such. 

Bucky landed well away from the dragon, within the wreckage of the trees, and Steve slid to the ground.

“Goddamn,” Steve murmured. 

A low growl built in Bucky’s chest, and Steve turned to look at him, but before he could ask, he saw what Bucky was looking at. The King’s crest of arms, emblazoned on an abandoned shield. 

“Was he looking for her hoard?” Steve asked. “I thought that was a myth.”

“It is,” Bucky said. “No, he was looking for something else, much more precious than any gold.” 

Without elaborating, he pushed off from the ground, and lofted up to the height of the tops of the few remaining trees, head swinging back and forth as he scanned the ground for something. His wingbeats generated a strong downdraft, and Steve moved away to get out of the buffeting wind, and nearly tripped over something hidden on the ground. 

A shimmer caught his eye, and he knelt to look closer. It was covered in leaves and mud, and looked like it had had a few dings, as if it had rolled from somewhere out. When he extracted it from the muck, he nearly dropped it. An elliptical object about the size of a housecat, it was warm to the touch, and it fairly glowed. The surface was tough, but had a distinctly organic feel that rock never had. And it was bright, brilliant green, a green that would never be mistaken for plants.

In short, Steve held a dragon egg. 

Dragon eggs were few and precious, even Steve knew that. When a dragonet hatched, it imprinted on the first being or beings it saw, and even a newborn dragonet was incredibly powerful. This, undoubtedly, was what the King had sent the hunting party for. 

“Bucky,” Steve called, and Bucky landed with a  _ thwump _ . Bucky stuck his nose out and sniffed at the egg. 

“It’s still alive,” he said. “We have to get it away from here.”

“Are there any more?” Steve asked. 

“It’s very unlikely,” Bucky said, as Steve managed to climb up with the egg clutched to his chest. He secured it in front of him with the straps that were meant to carry cargo, padding it with his cloak. “There’s rarely more than one egg at a time.” As soon as Steve fastened the last strap, Bucky pushed off again, and angled for their home mountain. Neither of them saw the human standing behind a tree dart off in the direction of the King’s castle.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The nice thing about dragon eggs, Steve learned, was that they were sort of indefinitely halted in development until conditions were just right. Usually, this meant that a parent dragon could wait until the food was good, the weather was good, and there were no attacking humans or other dragons in the vicinity before the incubation began. Unfortunately for this egg, incubation began by bathing in fire. Which meant that this egg was well on its way to hatching.

“So what now?” Steve asked, as Bucky rummaged through what had been Wanda’s room for blankets.

“Now we have to keep it warm and safe for about two months,” Bucky said.

“And then what?” Steve asked. He wasn’t panicking… not yet anyway.

“And then we’ll have to figure out what to do with a dragonet in the middle of a war,” Bucky said returning with an armload of blankets and a large woven basket. 

“Can’t we find some dragon to take it?” Steve asked.

“Not enough time. I’ve ah, well, the King’s orders have pretty much eliminated all dragons other than myself from more than a week’s flight in any direction. And besides that none of them will have anything to do with me, for good reason. Most of them would… well, kill me on sight.” Bucky said. He arranged the blankets on the hearth, and took the egg from where it was sitting on the armchair to put in the basket.

Steve looked stricken.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bucky said. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Sure we will,” Steve said. 

Bucky stood up from the basket, where the egg was now ensconced in swaths of fabric. “Good. Can you go fill the water barrel? I think I used the last of it this morning.”

Steve nodded, and hurried off to get the bucket. Bucky looked back at the egg. He and Steve. Well, it had been less than four months since their unusual reunion, and although Bucky was prepared to foster this dragonet, to become its parent, he wasn’t sure where Steve stood on that. Logically, he wouldn’t blame Steve if the man didn’t want anything to do with the infant dragon, but Bucky loved Steve, he had for nearly all his life, and the thought of doing this without Steve gave him a queasy stomach. Bucky was not willing to give this egg over to the care of any but another dragon, and none were available. So, if Steve didn’t want the dragonet, he couldn’t have Bucky. 

He wouldn’t tell Steve that, couldn’t tell Steve that. But… well, burn that bridge when they got there.

The rest of the day was spent in minor chores, firewood, mending, that sort of thing. When dusk rolled around, they found themselves in the arm’s camp for the night. Wanda and her brother were regaling Pietro’s commanders with stories of their childhood. As the night wore on, Bucky’s thoughts kept coming back to the egg. Was it safe? Was it warm enough? Was it too warm? 

His hand clenched reflexively, and he caught Steve’s curious expression out of the corner of his eye. 

“Hey Wanda,” Steve said softly, and caught the witch’s attention. She turned to him. “We’ve got to leave soon. Are you going to need us in the next few days?” 

Wanda considered for a moment, “No, I don’t think so. Mostly we’re just trying to keep the army hidden from the King for the moment. Five days should see us within sight of the walls, and I’ll have to get my armies ready for a final assault, so another day on top of that. I’ll come get you when I need you?”

“Sounds good,” Steve said. 

Bucky had said nothing, but heard enough to already be halfway out the door by the time Steve was done saying goodbye to Wanda.

He was in his winged form and practically vibrating out of his skin by the time Steve got on, and was in the air before Steve had a chance to even finish buckling the straps. 

“What’s gotten into you?” Steve asked. It was difficult to have conversations in flight, with the wind being so loud, but Bucky turned his head back to answer anyway.

“It’s the egg,” Bucky said. “I can’t get it out of my head.”

Steve said nothing for a moment, then, “I know what you mean. I can’t stop thinking about it lying there, if we hadn’t found it. Poor thing.”

Something in Bucky settled just a bit, a soothed nerve. Soon they were home, and Steve bounced off Bucky’s back to check on the egg. It was fine, of course, but that didn’t stop Bucky from worrying over it too. 

“We have to turn it every few hours,” Bucky said. “So the dragonet doesn’t stick to the shell and get injured.”

“Even in the middle of the night?” Steve asked. 

Bucky nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it,” he said.

“Why would you have to do it alone?” Steve asked. “I’m just as responsible for it being here as you are. I don’t want the dragonet hurt.”

Another soothed nerve. 

Bucky took Steve’s face in his hands and kissed him thoroughly. Steve was more than a bit interested, and soon the egg wasn’t the only thing in the room being heated. Bucky found himself sitting in the chair, his lap full of Steve. The knight seemed on a singular mission to lick his entire body, and Bucky wasn’t going to complain. The magic of where Bucky’s clothes went when he shifted to dragon form had never been thoroughly explained to him, but the magic of where Bucky’s clothes went now was fervently obvious. It was a near miss that they almost ended up in the fire. 

Steve made his way down Bucky’s chest, nipping and biting as he went. Bucky was in an unusual mood, and although he normally would have tried to direct Steve, instead he buried his fingers in Steve’s thick hair and let the man do whatever he wanted. Steve slid off his lap, pulled a cushion from the other chair to put under his knees, and knelt on the floor between Bucky’s legs. 

He paused a moment, his cheek resting against the inside of Bucky’s thigh, and looked up at the dragon. “Love you,” he murmured, smiling softly.

“Love you too,” Bucky said. 

Steve kissed the soft skin next to his face and then moved forward to take Bucky’s cock in his mouth. He moved slowly, and Bucky’s hands still in his hair just rested there. The cavern was dark, with the fire down low, and what light there was limned Steve in a rosy halo. Bucky didn’t think it was possible to be more in love with Steve than he was at this moment, but then he was constantly surprised by Steve. 

Steve did something that made Bucky’s fingers tighten in Steve’s hair, tugging just a bit, and Steve moaned, the sound muffled around Bucky’s cock. The vibrations sent shivers up Bucky’s spine, and he did it again, gently, to the same effect. Steve’s pace picked up and soon one of Bucky’s hands had moved to Steve’s shoulder, then the back of his neck. He squeezed lightly, once, both a warning and a reassurance. 

Steve understood, and swallowed Bucky down to the root, nearly choking as the dragon came, his head thrown back. Steve pulled back and Bucky saw him lick his lips before leaned sideways into Bucky’s thigh again. He had a palm pressed against his own tented pants, and Bucky, still hazy with his own orgasm, tugged Steve up. 

Steve came willingly, and Bucky pulled at Steve’s clothes. They were gone in a matter of seconds, and Bucky once again had a lap full of Steve. He took Steve’s cock in his hand and slowly jacked him. Steve tucked his face into the crook of Bucky’s neck, and Bucky wrapped his free arm around Steve’s torso, holding him close. Steve’s orgasm followed soon after, a quiet one. Bucky lazily pulled a blanket over them both, and they sat like that for a long while.

Steve had fallen asleep by the time Bucky wanted to go to bed, and he carried Steve into his nest as he had done so many times when the knight was a much smaller man. He left the blanket on him, and went back to the main room for the egg. He brought the entire basket with him, and set it beside the bed. 

“It’s gonna get cold out there,” Steve said. “Don’t you usually incubate eggs with your body heat?”

“That’s the usual way, yes,” Bucky said. 

“Then c’mere,” Steve said, eyes fluttering sleepily. 

Bucky wrapped the egg in a blanket, then handed it to Steve. Steve curled around it, and went immediately back to sleep. Bucky looked at them for a moment, then shifted, and curled himself around Steve and the egg, gave the command to turn out the single light, and went to sleep, warm and safe. 


	3. Chapter 3

As revolutions went, this one was turning out to be rather quiet. No one had heard any declaration from the King that he was even aware of its growing tide. Pietro’s and Wanda’s armies marched for the capital from opposite directions, aiming to converge just outside at the same time, overwhelm the King’s defenses, and hopefully avoid siege and bloodshed. 

Bucky and Steve stayed holed up in their cavern for the most part, the egg serving as an never-changing source of fascination. There was no external sign of the dragonet’s progress inside the egg, but Bucky assured Steve that the baby was coming along fine. 

It was almost a month after they had found the egg, and he and Steve had returned from a long day spent coordinating between the armies. All Steve wanted to do was sleep for a solid twelve hours, but Bucky insisted on such niceties as  _ baths  _ and  _ dinner _ . The plunge into the stream that ran outside the cave wasn’t as pleasant as a heated bath would’ve been, but it was a hell of a lot faster, and Steve very much wanted to go to sleep. Nevertheless, he gathered his wits (and a towel) about him, and took a quick journey to the stream, and steeled himself before stepping in. As expected, it was shockingly cold, he surfaced with a gasp, and went about scrubbing the dirt of the day off his body as fast as possible. 

He returned to shore, wrapped himself in the towel, and leisurely wandered back into the cave. It was strangely silent. He had expected Bucky to be making food, but there was no sound coming from the direction of the pantry. He went in that direction, and found the room in a great disarray, the bags of dried corn and peas split and spilled across the floor. The egg’s basket was overturned in the middle of the room, torn blanket half-draped on the counter. A knife lay on the floor. Steve turned, and ran back out to the main room. He saw now, the signs of a further struggle. The rugs were out of place, the chairs knocked slightly askew, as if someone had tried to put them back in the right place.

And then, in the middle of the floor, a bright red streak of blood. He felt the color drain from his face and pool in his stomach. Nonononono, this could  _ not  _ be happening. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep bracing breath. Clearly it was for the egg that someone had come looking, and Bucky had gotten between them and the egg. Whether Bucky was still alive (he had to be, or Steve would… Steve didn’t know what he’d do), Steve couldn’t do anything from here, and he certainly couldn’t do anything while he was naked. He had to find Wanda, she would know at least where to begin. It would be a long night getting to her, and that was assuming he could find a horse to steal along the way. 

Steve dressed quickly in sturdy travelling clothes, and stuffed bread and preserved meat into his mouth as he packed a small bag. He considered his options, and decided on only the bare minimum of armor, a mail shirt, toughened leather jerkin, forearm and shin guards, and a helm he stuffed into the bag. The bag went on his shoulders, his sword onto his belt, and then his shield over the bag on his back. Accoutrements settled, he took off down the mountain at a lope, the forest quickly becoming enveloped in a deepening gloom. 

The night darkened as he travelled, the conifers of the highland slowly giving way to broadleaf trees. He berated himself the entire time, wondering how he could have missed an attack that was big enough to subdue an entire dragon. It was hours and hours later when he finally stumbled into Pietro’s camp, the closer of the siblings’ armies. The sky was turning a pale silver as the perimeter guards leapt to their feet in surprise.

Neither of them were men he recognized, but evidently they recognized him. 

“Sir Steve?” the one on the right asked cautiously. 

Steve heaved a breath, “Need to see the general,” he said. 

“Sir!” the man said, and sped off. 

It was only a few moments later, and Pietro, looking sleep rumpled and still dressed in what were probably his sleeping clothes, rocked to a stop in front of Steve.

“What in the world?” he started.

“I don’t know how, but they took Bucky,” Steve said. He wasn’t willing to mention the egg openly.

“Who’s ‘they’?” Pietro asked, already looking more alert.

“I assume the King’s men. There are… other circumstances, but I can’t talk about them here,” Steve said. 

Pietro narrowed his eyes at Steve, but said, “We’re going to need Wanda, yes?” 

Steve nodded. “I promise I’ll tell you everything I can… but not where there are listening ears.”

Pietro turned to the guard that was left. “Show Sir Steve to a tent where he can rest,” he ordered. Before Steve could open his mouth to protest, Pietro interrupted. “It will take even me the better part of the morning to retrieve Wanda, and from the looks of you you need at least a few hours of sleep. We will wake you as soon as we return, but you  _ must _ sleep. You’re not doing anyone any favors otherwise.”

Steve bristled, but there wasn’t any arguing with that logic, so he allowed himself to be led away, to a bed and a pillow, and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was asleep. His dreams were troubled, filled with blurs of colored scales, blue and green, tilted wingtips, and a single falling green feather. 

  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Non-graphic descriptions of the aftermath of torture
> 
> No, I'm not aware of why I do mean things to Bucky, but I do, sooooooo here

Steve was awakened by a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, and had shield in hand before he registered Wanda’s presence. She looked drained and pale, the circles under her eyes bigger than he remembered from even the day before. Steve sat up, and Wanda pulled up a stool. At the flap of the tent, Pietro tugged the fabric shut, and tied it.

“I’ve spelled the tent so no one outside can hear,” Wanda said. “Pietro said you couldn’t say something out in the open?” 

Steve scrubbed his hand across his face. “Yeah,” he said. “About a month ago, Bucky and I found a dragon that the King’s men had murdered, likely for her egg. Unfortunately for them, she took them out with her. We found her egg, and took it home.”

“You did what now?” Wanda asked. “You’ve had a  _ dragon egg _ the last month and you didn’t think to mention it?” 

“It was Bucky’s call,” Steve said. “And I think you know why.”

“Because if the ‘King’ got it, he would have an enthralled dragon,” Wanda said, the word  _ king _ practically spit out. 

“And now he has two,” Steve said. 

“Which is why we have to go now,” Wanda said. 

“Go?” Steve asked. 

“We have to get Bucky out for my plan to work,” Wanda said. “And we can’t leave a dragon egg in the king’s hands, but that’s going to be easier than getting Bucky out. Eggs are small.” 

“And just how are we going to do that?” Steve asked. 

* * *

 

He found himself the next morning, standing in the courtyard of the castle, dressed in servant’s clothing, staring down a very large guard. 

“What’re you lookin’ at?” the man asked him gruffly. 

“Nothing, sir, sorry,” Steve said, and skittered to the side.  The man harrumphed. 

Steve’s job was to find Bucky, a task he had thought easy before he realized exactly how big the castle was. Wanda said there were no dungeons, but it still seemed logical to Steve to start in the cellars. It took more time than he would have liked to get there, dodging around washerwomen carrying loads taller than they were. 

He found a dank chamber full of casks and barrels. Even searching every corner yielded no dragons, so Steve took his search up the stairs. There wasn’t enough time to look in every room in the castle, and besides that, it wouldn’t make sense to keep a prisoner somewhere where he could easily escape. Steve had to assume Bucky would be in human form, the castle was big, but not nearly big enough to hide an entire dragon.

He passed Wanda an hour into his search, and gave a short, sharp shake of his head that she returned. A ball of nerves was growing in his stomach the further up in the building he went, and he was ready to return to the basement when he came to a room that looked like it had been a scullery in a past life. Now it was barred from the outside, with a lock that looked like it hadn’t been properly locked by accident. Steve pulled the lock open, and checked the corridor before opening the door. 

The room inside was small, but heat boiled out as he pulled the door past his face. A slumped figure rested against the far wall, liberally streaked in blood. It took a few seconds for Steve to register that it was Bucky. He dropped the lock to the ground, and rushed forward, falling to his knees. The dragon’s chest was rising and falling, but alarmingly shallowly, and what Steve could see of his skin was a mass of blood and bruises. There was some kind of muzzle on his face, and he was chained to the wall. Steve yanked the manacle off the chain, and bent to lift him. As Steve slid a hand under his knees and shoulders, Bucky’s left hand fell into his lap, and Steve couldn’t even try to parse what had happened to it. 

He lifted Bucky, alarmed at how easy it was to do, and turned back to the door. He hadn’t considered how they were going to get out of this, and Wanda hadn’t actually specified. Luckily, providence seemed to be with him, as her voice materialized just beside his ear in a whisper. “I’ve got the egg. Have you found him?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you? Pietro is going to come get you.”

Steve told her, and seconds later, Pietro was filling the doorway. 

“Damn,” he said. “He’s still alive.”

“For now,” Steve said. “You can get us out of here?” 

“I can only take one of you at a time,” Pietro said. “Him first. But you’d best get out of the castle. They know something’s up.”

Steve was reluctant to give Bucky up, but it seemed the only option at this point, so he gingerly placed the dragon in Pietro’s hands, and the other man sped off, leaving only a breeze behind him. Steve was right on his heels, abandoning stealth for speed. He heard the clank of armored feet behind him, and didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know the guards were following him. He ran for the stairs, taking entire flights in one leap, and in moments found himself in the courtyard. 

Unfortunately he was surrounded by polearm wielding armsmen. 

Steve looked around for options. If he could make it over their heads, he could get out the gate. He wasn’t as fast as Pietro, but he was faster than any of them. But there wasn’t enough room to get a running start to jump. As the thought passed through his head, a heat built in the soles of his feet, and he saw a haze of red ring his boots. 

He didn’t think any further, but instead took Wanda on faith, and jumped as hard as he could. He found himself lifted, as if he had wings of his own, up and over the men’s heads. They gave shouts of astonishment, and he vaulted over the wall in a second leap. As he landed on the outside, Wanda appeared on a horse, leading another at a gallop. She was holding the egg in the crook of her arm. Steve didn’t slow, but threw himself on the empty horse, and Wanda dropped the reins as they sped off down the road. 

The horses had to slow eventually, and as the dust settled, Steve turned to Wanda.

“Did you see the King?” he asked. 

“I did,” Wanda said. “Unfortunately it was from across the room so I didn’t get the chance to punch him in his smug face, but that time will come. Bucky?”

“He was… alive,” Steve said. “I don’t know what they did to him, but it wasn’t good looking.”

“I have some idea,” Wanda said. “Here, I have a feeling you want to hold this yourself.” She offered Steve the egg, and he took it, not even realizing his hands  _ had _ been itching for it. 

“How am I so attached to it already?” he wondered.

“It’s part of the dragon magic,” Wanda said. “The egg’s done a little enchantment on you. Nothing nefarious, but it’s in a dragon’s nature to be fickle, and nature ensured that the parents wouldn’t abandon the eggs in a rather interesting way.”

Steve wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but there was nothing that could be done at this point. 

They rode on at a fast trot, the safest pace the horses could maintain, for nearly an hour until Pietro reappeared. “He’s with the healers,” he said to Steve. “And you have guards fast on your tail.”

Wanda cursed, and Steve looked over his shoulder. 

“Leave the horses,” Wanda said. “I’ll go over land, you go with Pietro, they won’t be able to track you. I’ll meet you before dark.”

They dismounted, and Pietro pulled Wanda into quick embrace. “Be safe, sister,” he said. 

“I will,” she said, and lifted off, red mist trailing from her fingers as she bounced back toward the men following them. 

Steve turned to Pietro. “How are we doing this?”

“Very carefully,” Pietro said. “Get a good hold on that egg.”

Steve tucked the egg inside his shirt and tightened his belt. 

“Good idea. Now I’m going to lift you, and I need you to move as little as possible,” Pietro said.

Steve wasn’t expecting to be carried bridal-style, but Pietro knocked him off his feet, and then the wind whistled in Steve’s ears. He had to close his eyes against the sickening blur. Rather sooner than he had expected, the wind and whistling stopped, and Pietro set him back upright. 

“Careful,” Pietro cautioned, and Steve stumbled forward, his stomach in sudden revolt. 

“That was…” he started.

“Yeah,” Pietro said. “Less pleasant than dragonflight, I’m guessing.”

“Something like that,” Steve said. “Where is he?”

“He’s with the healers,” Pietro said. “You have to let them work.”

Steve knew he was right, but that didn’t make it any easier. He allowed himself to be led to the mess tent, and ate something, the flavor not making any lasting impression. Finally, he returned to the tent where he had spent the (sleepless) night before, and sat on the cot. He pulled the egg out of his shirt, and stroked it in the dim light. The fabric of the tent was red, and cast strange shadows on the green egg. 

He could feel dents in it, ones that hadn’t been there before. Apparently they had tried to chisel it open. Rage boiled in his chest at the thought, and it was only the egg’s weight in his lap that kept him from going right back to the castle and eviscerating them with his bare hands. He pressed a hand over it, and nearly jumped out of his skin when something from inside tapped back. 

“Oh! Hello.”

**Author's Note:**

> @fireflyslove on the tumbls


End file.
